Become a driving Instructor
I had someone approach me recently about becoming a driving instructor, and my honest advice to them was don't do it. If you watch some of the channels on Sky TV, then you would have seen the adverts by Red Driving School for becoming a driving instructor. The advert sings the praises of how you can earn £30,000 a year as a driving instructor, the joys of being independent and choosing the hours you want to work, having a new car and how you will have a guaranteed job after you finish the ADI training course, and many people every year see these type of adverts, hear of the price of driving lessons and automatically start thinking of changing their career and dream of the large amount of income/money that they will be making after going through the qualifying process of becoming a driving instructor and setting up their own learner school being their own boss.
First lets deal with the claims of the Red Driving School advert about becoming a driving instructor.
Can you earn £30,000 a year teaching learner drivers? What salary can you expect as a driving instructor? Yes you can, but not in your first year after becoming a driving instructor, and probably not in your second year either!
Can you choose the hours you work even if you are have a franchise with the AA Driving School, Red or BSM? Absolutely, but you might not have any pupils willing to take driving lessons when you would prefer them to, so if you want to make a lot of money, you would not be able to be as flexible as you would like, especially as a newly qualified driving instructor! There is an even more important reason why a newly qualified driving instructor will not be able to choose the hours that he or she works, and I'll get to that later, something they don't tell you about becoming an ADI.
The new car you get as a driving instructor. Yes you will get a branded new car if you take out a franchise with Red Driving School, the AA, BSM, LDC or any other school that offers franchises, but the cars are not free, you pay a weekly fee for them, upto almost £400! Think about how many lessons you would need to give just to pay for the car (franchise fees), before you start to make any profit (what about fuel costs, you pay that as well!).
A guaranted job after ADI training? Of course, but not a job, a franchise! All learner driving instructors in the UK are self-employed (there is probably one exception), so you are not employed by Red Driving School, AA, BSM, LDC, etc. So you basically are not guaranteed any weekly or monthly salary, and when it comes down to it, you are really on your own, so go over the terms of your driving school franchise with a fine comb, as you will even see that you are not guaranteed any number of pupils a week, and you still need to pay your weekly fee whether you have had enough driving lessons or not. This is the reason why a newly qualified driving instructor will not be able to choose hours they work, they need to pay the franchise fee as well as earn a living!
Driving Instructor (ADI) Training
So why do orgnisations like Red Driving School, the Instructor College take out such adverts to convince people to become driving instructors? The bottom line is money! All the big driving schools like the AA, BSM, LDC, Red, make their money from Driving Instructors, and not from pupils who are learning to drive. It costs about £3,000 give or take to become a driving instructor with one of these driving schools or the instructor college (by the way Red Driving School and the Instructor College are part of the same parent group), and after you qualify, you will take out a franchise with them (giving them even more money). Of the thouands of people that start out to become driving instructors each year, only about 30% pass the ADI part 3 exam that allows them to qualify. Even after qualifying, you are not home free! The market competition is very fierce and the learner driver basically can choose who and what they are willing to pay, many give up after qualifying either because of debt or not being able to make a decent living as an ADI.
As a new qualified driving instructor even if you have a franchise with the likes of Red Driving School, you will still have to do you own marketing to get yourself additional pupils to pay that hefty £300+ weekly fee as well as make yourself money to live on. Teaching people to become driving instructors is more lucrative than learners, because potential driving instructors (PDIs), are mature, serious people who are willing to pay a little higher than a learner, will have the money (even if it is borrowed) to pay for the course, and some might even try more than once because they don't have the whole picture and think that being a driving instructor is an easy way to make money.
So having given you the true facts, I would say you really MUST want to be a driving instructor, and money MUST NOT be the overiding factor. There are many instructors making decent earnings, but they didn't get there in a year, and it will take time, hard work and some stressful times to get there.
Why do you want to become an approved driving instructor? There are enough ADIs out there, there are no shortage of instructors and there is not enough work to go round all the instructors, so joining the industry at this time means you have even more work to do to get your business established.
Q: How old do you have to be in order to become a driving instructor?
A: The minimum age a driving instructor can be is 21, but you need to have held a driving licence for 4 years by the time you qualify as an ADI.
Q: How long does it take to become an ADI?
A: The time it takes to become a driving instructor depends on how well your training goes, DSA test waiting times and your ability to pass part 1, 2 and 3 of the ADI qualifying exams. I heard of one person qualifying in 6 months!
Q: How can I become a driving instructor for free of charge?
A: There is currently no way yo can become an ADI free, you need to pay for the training. There are some government and commercial loans available, but before you commit yourself to debt, read this artcle fully, including the comments to make sure this is really what you want to do.
More reading on becoming a driving instructor
Independent driving instructor training
How I became a driving instructor
Driving Instructor Earnings
ITV Tonight produced a programme featuring Red Driving School, but it is no longer available on their website.
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125 comments:
As an Ex driving instructor I agree with every thing in the above plus little things about being in effect self employed, no sick pay, no paid holidays and nasty letters from the tax man and national insurance man because you didn't pay tax for year 2001 nor any year since. Good luck if you go for it.
Thanks for the additional info David, there is surely a lot to think about before deciding to become a driving instructor.
Unfortunately some will only see the Red Driving School adverts a few times, and use that to make up their minds.
hi,ive just qualified as an instructor and my advice to anyone thinking of starting would be dont.Its cost me well over £3000 just for the training,not to mention the £5000 in franchise fees for the last 6 months whilst i was a PDI.Its going to take another year or so before i will start to make a living.Quite gutted after working so hard to qualify around my last job and quitting that to be an insructor.ryan
Ryan, thanks for adding your experience, I hope that things do turn around for you. Wishing you the best as you continue in your new career as a driving instructor.
Ryan very good article. Red Driving School/The instructor College have sold between 45,000 and 90,000 courses since The Instructor College set up Red in 1999 based on their accounts and the claim that they sell more instructor courses than all the other training companies put together.
I hope people read your blog on the subject. When I went to a The Instructor College/Red Driving School sales presentation in Leeds I was quoted £3,495 for their instructor training course. This was nearly a £1,000 more than the courses from from the big three BSM, AA and LDC for far less in-car training. In the end I decided to stick with my current job.
If Red Driving School/The Instructor College sold between 45,000 and 90,000 courses over the last 9 years how come Red is ten times smaller than BSM (which has about 3,500 instructors) when it should be 10 times bigger after selling all those courses????
Before you spend money with Red/The Instructor College see the posts on the following forum many are looking to take legal action.
http://forums.gumtree.com/about86220-0-asc-75.html
SUREPASS.....BE vary aware...
I shall keep this brief though i could go on all day...
Hows this i know someone who was pdi for 12 mths(got another licence) ,outgoings ie franchise ,fuel ,phone ..nearly 14k.....Income 9k...Work it out ,nearly destroyed her ,then the bas****s want a buy out fee if you leave which = £600 + £100 for every month left on contract with them.. This does not stop here they will never work my area again i will see to it...
http://www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,13992.0.html There are unhappy people all over the country ... Something has to be done about it..
I'm trying to educate people, which is why I wrote this article so anyone thinking of becoming a driving instructor could have an honest view.
The companies are not really doing anything illegal, just maybe not ethical, they are in it for the money, and unfortunately the current economic climate seems to push people to look for alternative means of income, and those adverts can be compelling.
Hi yes i do agree with the above comments, but you do get to see people progress and how happy they are after they pass knowing that it is you who has has helped them achieve this and yes you can earn £30000 but you have got to be prepared to work about 35 hours average a week
http://www.squidoo.com/driving_instructors#
A good lens with down to earth information.
I am really disappointed reading these reviews kim
Personally, I think trainee licenses should be stopped. Apparently there is no real difference in the part 3 pass rate between people who have been on the licence and people who haven't, but it's the PDI's who make these driving schools most of their money[I didn't take a PDI licence and passed P3 first go]. Like any other profession - train for the job first then earn the money when you're qualified. Just think how many people pay £25-30 per hour for sub-standard instruction! If you're serious about becoming an instructor you'll make it with hard work, and when you qualify there would be more work out there not taken by PDI's lining the pockets of these driving schools.
Surepass used mainly pdi's and they are charged out at the same rate as adi's ,the pupils are not told they are trainee status,i for one know i would not want to be taught by a trainee. The companies tell the trainees to keep quiet about it even if they fail their part 3 they are told to lie to pupils , never tell them you are a trainee..I know of a few people who found out their instructors were pdi (must have noticed the pink badge maybe)and they stopped their lessons straight away..I know everyone has to learn, but if you have to have pdi's then at least make the pupils aware of this.
If only this forum were an advert!
I am an ex TIC trainer (left in 2001) after almost 3 years of seeing dissalusioned would be instructors part with too much cash only to seek additional training I know that this profession, and I use the word with pride, is going down the pan, I see PDIs from TIC and BSM and others who have been totally ripped off. I have the job of rebuilding their confidence after they have been incorrectly trained and told things like "never as long as you have a **** up your ****!!.
The end result of all this high profile advertising is cheap driving lessons and cheap tuition and more bunches of flowers at the side of the road.
This government need to act now and force the DSA into capping the number of ADIs per region. NOW
Hi, I have just come back from the Instructor College presentation today, and got the impression they were using a lot of smoke and mirrors to entice me. I am off tomorrow for the mini driving test thing, so I will just tell them where to go!
Nice one Paul, as long as you dont hit a curb too hard you will pass with flying colours, no probs!!
I,m going trough the course at the moment, and it's a nightmare.
Can't get a glass when I need one, they are to far apart (usualy 3 weeks), had to pay hole course up front, theory test £80.00 a go, practical test £99.00 a go, not to mention the costs to and from the college!!, I'm broke and considering something else.
i have been a driving instructor for 8 years and i agree to everything on here, dont do it. iam seriously thinking of giving up after a very hard 8 years.
Hi my names ashley i was just about to take the course then i read all these comments and now im stuck as what to do with my future its true the adverts on tv do make it very appealing and make it sound so easy.Im really disapointed now,i imagined myself as an instructor untill i was due to retire lol,but hey i suppose its like everything else in life sounds too good to be true.(GUTTED)
oh well thanks for all the advise at least ive saved all that money now.
Hi Ashley, glad we have saved you some money.
It is a shame though that many potentialy good instructors may be lost because of the situation. I hope you find the right carreer for you.
Thanks for the comments, you have just saved me a great deal of time and money. Have a presentation meeting on Monday and there is no way they'll be selling me the career after reading these posts.
Thanks again.
I was considering this after just being made redundant i think i will save my money now
Although Red Driving School (i.e. LVG limited) do operate instructors probably well over 90% of their profit and income comes from selling instructor training courses. Over the last 10 years, ten of thousands of people have bought a driving instructor course in answer to a Red driving school recruitement advert but only a very small number have gone on to pass and work for them.
The main reason these current instructors are trying to put you off is because they don't want the newly qualified eating onto their profits!!
was with instructor college for more than a year and apart from the books, they offered nothing, and even then it was a complete rip off at £3500
i took my part 1 passed it second time, but that's only because i went out and baught the GSP theory pack, TIC offered very little if no help in that matter
Part two was the same story, after completing their course i was left alone, no additional training, even when i phoned up there was always a negative reply as "sorry no trainer is available at all this month" (Seriously!!!) anywho i got through that at second attempt as well
After my 40 hours I decided upon the trainee licence, went with red driving school, was ripped off again, they gave me one student and expected me to pay £250+ each and every week from that, now i was stuck finding work as there are just not enough people wanting to take lessons at their ridiculous price, (had to give lessons cheaper at £15) after a while i wisened up and left them, this time i tried it on my own and it was much better, but only for a month then i quit
Started preparing for my part three test on my own, giving lessons to my younger brother, got through the test first time, with some research on ADIT.org if only i had known earlier that i didn't have to waste my money, now the hard work begins of actually finding pupils
by the way the moral of my story above:
DON'T UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE TRAIN WITH TIC OR WORK FOR RED THEY ARE COMPLETE AND UTTER RIP OFFS
i have been out of work for a few years due to a medical condition. i first seen the red advert along time ago and thought\'this is something i could do'. my condition does not affect either m driving or my communication with other people. the big schools seem to be expensive and offer x amount of hours training regardless of how many you need, different people pick things up at different rates. i still want to do this and become an adi. a family owned driving school in my area (northern ireland) also trains adi's, they charge per hour in much the same way they do for learner drivers, so you can have as much training as you need. would this be a better way of doing it? and is being an instructor so bad really? id be prepared to put in the hard work needed. this school has 15 or more drivers now and to start lessons people i know have had to wait 3 weeks, so they must get the work.
Oh my god am so glad i have taken time to read this blog!!! It has really changed my mind about becoming a driving instructor. The hidden chargers are absolutly eye renching!! Can't get over how they get a way with the cost of everything am sticking with my current job for now thanks for your honesty guys!!!
Lansdown Venture Group (RED or TIC) must be rubbing their hands together with the massive number of redundancies occurring due to the recession. As if there aren’t enough instructors already!
i always knew that BSM had some deal with Vauxhall but I have only just learned they actually get them for FREE and changed every six months for FREE! They don’t own any! Now Vauxhall are threatening to pull out of the deal BSM are sweating!
That makes their horrendous franchise fee of over £300 per week downright robbery; how anyone can make that franchise pay I will never know!
I have had several BSM instructors ask me about our £25 per week franchise, now I know why!
Red driving schools TV ads pays off big time - according to latest published accounts
In the six months from 1st April to 5th October 2008 Red driving school (i.e. LVG Limited) reports a big improvement in driving instructor course sales and profits in comparison with the previous published accounts for the 18 month period from 1st October 2006 to 31st March 2008.
The company reported sales of £18.6 million of which 90.8% (i.e. £16.9 million) was earned from selling instructor training courses, 5.8% (i.e. £1.1. million) was earned from operating a driving school and the remaining 3.4% was earned from various other enterprises. At £3,500 (£2,978 ex VAT) per course this would suggest in this 6 month period April to September 2008 Red driving school advertising sold in the region of 5,667 instructor courses. This compares to about 12,836 courses sold in the previous 18 months (i.e. about 4,278 on a 6 month for 6 month basis). This is potentially an increase of 30% on the previous accounts performance. Profit after tax was also up from £1.5 million (for the previous 18 month period) to £2 million (for just the 6 month period). The number of employed trainers dropped from 166 to 131 (i.e. 20% decrease) while the number of sales staff increased to 143. The company now has more people selling then they do training.
Clearly the major TV Red driving school advertising is paying off in a big way for the company with increase in instructor course sales and profits. The driving school income remains static at around the same level as the previous published accounts (i.e. about 6% of the total business) suggesting it hasn’t grown but it was noticed that the company has just sold off the whole of its fleet of driving school cars. From now on it would seem anyone joining Red driving school will need to lease a car from another company. This will help protect the Company if there is a down turn in the driving school business as it will not have the problem of having to dispose of any cars in an already depressed car sales marketplace. It also means if the franchise doesnot work out for anyone Red don't get lumbered with a car the instructor will have to take it with him or her.
Anyone can obtain a full copy of the LVG Limited’s accounts from: www.companieshouse.gov.uk then proceed to WebCHeck service to obtain information. There is a small charge of about £5.
Also look at the following link for posts from Red driving schools instructor college:
http://www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk/forum/index.php/board,296.0.html
i think the last pass rates i saw for passing the theory part was 70% if you fail you lose your 3000k course fee. and the part 2 only 65% pass and the part 3 only 30% pass. all 3 attempts..this is the national average of all driving instructor training eatablishments..but if you fail as most do then you lose your 3k fee..and test fees which you pay which are over about 100 pounds a go.
and if you are lucky enough to qualify as a driving instructor, often your pupils will let you down and cancel lessons at last minute which means you lose the money.
you get no sick pay no holiday pay no pension.
you have to pay the dsa 300 pounds every 4 years to keep your intructor license.
francise fees/advertising fees of upto 350 pounds a month.also fuel costs.
.you cant work hours to suit as allot of people work 9 till 5 so you have to give them lessons at evenings or weekends if you want the money..so you give up your weekend to work and then the pupil doesnt turn up for the lesson.
the life of a driving instructor is no as rosey as the tv and newspaper adds make out..but they want your money so they will lie to you to get
i think watchdog should investigate and dont think it will be to long before they do.
The Red driving school recruitement advert "You could earn £30,000 a year as a Red driving instructor" has sold over 18,000 driving instructor training courses in the 2 year period covered by their latest accounts (see earlier comment) which is totally disproportionate to the size of the driving school (i.e. a few hundred instructors) and its ability to secure the job and earnings promised if a significant number where ever to qualify. Even household brand names such as BSM and the AA can only support 2,000 and 3,000 respectively. Over the last 10 years the number of courses sold on the back of this job advert for Red driving school is likely to well exceed 50,000 based on previous accounts! At this rate of recruitment Red driving school should be 10 times bigger than the AA and BSM put together!
I wonder how many are deeper in debt as a result of responding to these adverts and how many will now waste what little redundancy money they have on this company?
I found this an absolute complelling read.Thankyou all for opening my eyes to this and saving me thousands of pounds.I have recently become disillusioned with my current employment & saw the very attrative package offered by Red & thought it sounds like just the ticket.
Not sure what I will do now
The big three driving schools BSM, AA and LDC don't sell instructor courses in a disproportionate way and do sell to meet genuine requirements. First and foremost they are driving schools not instructor training companies. Therefore if you like the idea of becomming a self-employed driving instructor and want the best possible chance of qualifying and earning a decent living satrt by looking at them.
I have been conned into this, before Christmas i had a job working as a manager at a shop. I applied to be an instructor in Nov 2008. Just before Christmas I lost my job and tried to contact them, i couldn't until Jan 3rd when they was back in the office, i told them i was on job seekers and wouldn't have the money to travel to the college. I live on the Isle of Wight. The couldn't care less, they still want the money. I have thought about committing suicide over this.
I have a new group on facebook to warn people, please come and join
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58486933571
allot of these posts are about red driving school.. but to be honest nearly all the driving instructor training establishments are the same..they are all just after your money..and most people dont pass the full course and there fee is wasted..but if your are lucky enough to qualify as a driving instructor dont believe all you see and read in the press about earning potential..my advice would be to choose a different career and dont let these driving instructor training establishments bullshit you as they just want your money.
iam a driving instructor so i know the score.
i was told that there is a national shortage of driving instructors...this is not true, there are too many driving instructors and not enough work to go around.. which is why i have seen companies offering 5 hours for 50 quid. you cant compete with that and how do you earn a decent wage charging that sort of fee.
If anyone wants to share their experience on this matter with the public, ITV is making a programme about people spending their redundacy money on becoming a driving instructor, let me know if you want to be put in touch with the producer.
The Red TV advert is very misleading. It gives the false impression that Red is a highly successful, rapidly expanding driving school that is looking for people to join them as driving instructors on £30,000 per year plus a car. This pretence is continued at subsequent meetings where you are told there is a massive demand for driving instructors and if you buy their training course to become an instructor they will guarantee you a job with Red or another driving school. They make it seem quite plausible that they would train for others as well as their own school as they are not only an incredibly successful driving school they are also the UK’s leading trainer of driving instructors.
The reality is that the company is not a highly successful driving school as it would have you believe trying to cope with an ever increasing demand from the public for Red driving lessons, it is in fact a company that sells instructor training courses as can be seen from the companys accounts commented on earlier.
As pointed out in the article at the start of this blog the driving instructor job offered by Red (or indeed any driving school) is in fact a franchise opportunity also referred to as a job franchise. Normally before someone buys into a job franchise they check that it is successful business format first. It is also normal for any franchisor (i.e. in this case the driving school) to prove it has a product that the public wants and that its brand name and/or methods are highly desirable. Companies like BSM, AA and LDC do have proven successful job franchises without a doubt and offer instructor training in a way that is measured to ensure they can properly support the people they train and recruit.
Red on the other hand is not a proven product (despite being in operation for 10 years) and was in fact shown to be making a large loss as a driving school when it was amalgamated into LVG limited in 2005 (see below for potted history). However, this loss was dwarfed by its profits on selling courses using the Red job promise. The company is not constrained by having to support the people it recruits because it only promises to place them with the Red franchise or that of another school. In any case by the time it takes the people it recruits to qualify (i.e. between 6 to 18 months) they will realise the fact that Red charges them £140 per week franchise fee (especially as Red do not now even supply the car) is no guarantee of work. If the instructor doesn’t get enough work to pay for the car and the franchise what can he do about it? After all he wasn’t promised £30,000 per annum only that it was possible. Because Red spends so much on advertising they offer the least amount of in-car training of any other company per pound spent. They also employ mass production training methods and the combination of these two factors mean few ever qualify in any case.
Potted history of Red driving school (LVG Limited)
In 1993 The Instructor College Ltd (the first name it used) was born and sold courses on the back of a “so-called” guaranteed job with driving schools like BSM or the AA etc. Later in 1994 the company bought Airport Driving School Ltd which was in 1999 renamed to Red Driving School Ltd. This is also when The Instuctor College first started placing Red driving school adverts offering the “so-called” job. A group company called LVG Ltd was also created in 1997 to bring all the operations together. The company later acquired LetsDrive it main competitor when it went into administration in 2004. Unfortunately unlike Red, LetsDrive solely guaranteed a job with LetsDrive and couldn’t later support them in its driving school operation. In 2005 all the companies were then amalgamated into LVG limited and were no longer companies in their own right making it impossible to see exactly how each was performing. Since then its main thrust has been to promote the Red Driving School job promise approach to selling instructor training courses which from its recent accounts can be shown to be very lucrative as indeed it was for LetsDrive until they had to deliver the promised jobs. red have learnt hoe to avoid this problem.
I have had prevous experances with a driving school which was local to me and all he was intrested in was taking your money or should i say the goverments money as i was unemployed at the time, I could not pass part 1 due to no help from him but he still took the money total con. Now meny years later Im having another go, passed the part 1 first on my own with the help of books and the dsi starter pack. I tried to find a training school remembering previous experiance I was told to contac the AA what a rip off I would not entertain them. I was lucky to find a local school audit trained insturcter all I can say fantastic hardly spent a large amount of money works you hard and makes sure you know what you are doing top quality instruction thats all you get. I'm now ready ready for my part 2. Word of advise, you need audit trained instructors, don't get pulled into a franchise.Once biten and all that.
Good post anon but one point:
You are wrong to say YOU MUST GET AN ORDIT TRAINER. I have been training instructors for many years and have been ORDIT registered I can assure you and all readers of this forum that there are as many rubbish trainers registered on ORDIT as there are not registered.
The test required to be ORDIT is no better or worse than a check test or for that matter your part three in as much as you are as good or bad on the day.
I have retrained many part 3 candidates from RED and BSM and others who have been trained totally outdated methods and absolute rubbish.
The way to go is ask around for recommendations DO NOT BE INFLUENCED BY THE ORDIT BADGE
I'm a bit puzzled now as to where to go with my career, I was seriously considering training as an ADI (but not through red/tic, sent for an info pack from then and something just didn't seem right). Anyway, I have now held a full clean licence for 12 years and never had any accidents, I wanted to pass my road sense on to others and hopefully put some good, sensible and capable drivers on the road.
This isn't something that I am thinking about doing right now but am considering possibly within the next 6-12 months when I see where the "credit crunch" is going.
Though now I cannot help but to wonder whether I will just be wasting my time and/or money?
Any thoughts???
The answer is simple Gary, DONT DO IT
The reasons are not really complicated; the simple fact is there are too many instructors out there cutting each others throats.
The recession could be the final nail in the professions coffin, Mum and Dad have tightened the purse strings and one of the first things to go will be driving lessons, mum and dad will teach their kids. After all they are good drivers, aren’t they?
16 years ago my lesson price was £16 per hour now I’m looking at competitors at £15.
I went into this profession for the same noble reason, to pass on my skills to help others, you only ever get to teach the kids how to pass the driving test. its only when you get into fleet driver training you can fulfil that intention.
Hold on for a few years Gary, see what the industry ends up like.
I trained with Red/Instructor College. Yes, they did tell me there is a shortage of instructors - don't think this is true? I paid about £3500 (loan for 12 months, was lucky enough to pay it before interest kicked in) for the course + test fees. Passed parts 1 and 2 first time, part 3 second time which took me about 20 months altogether. I went on a traineee licence for 6 months which I found useful, and didn't cost me too much as used my own car (had duals fitted).
I have heard so many bad things about Red/TIC but personally I have nothing bad to say about them (except the training is not as flexible as they say). You do have to put a lot of work in yourself also.
Now I have to think what I am going to do next. I am a qualified Accountant with a good salary. I wanted to become an instructor because I liked the sound of it and don't enjoy the job I do - but now that I am an ADI I have to decide what to do next. I am looking at all the options but it is difficult to make the decision to give up my job with a stable salary and venture into the unknown (especially with 4 children to support!). Good luck to anyone deciding on becoming an instructor
I would stick with the accountant job.
Read these posts and read between the lines, theres an old saying, `no smoke without fire`
There are many excellent indtructor trainers out there and more just out to take your money, I am a very poor salesman and tell every one who calls me for training....DONT DO IT!
The following misleading/false statements and so-called grantees are commonly used to sell you a course:
1.There is a national shortage of driving instructors - demand for driving lessons and professionally qualified instructors is growing rapidly with many instructors having waiting lists.
I am afraid this is more wishful thinking on behalf of those trying to sell you an instructor training course than anything based on fact. Over the last 5 years the number of driving instructors in the UK has dramatically grown from 31,807 as at the end of March 2003 to 43,634 as at the end of March 2008 an increase of 37.2%, (according to Officially published Government figures source the DSA annual accounts, obtainable for download from www.dsa.gov.uk). Meanwhile the number of potential customers passing the Theory Test during the year ending 31st March 2003 was 933,100 rising to 1,162,200 for the year ending March 2008 an increase of 24.6% (again based on Official published Government figures). In other words the number of instructors is growing faster than the number of potential customers needing lessons. Therefore to say there is a shortage is simply untrue and indeed if anything the reverse is true. You could however state there is a shortage of good quality driving instructors and of those who fall into this category many do have waiting lists but this would probably represent no more than 10% of the total market place.
2.To pass the final qualifying test takes around 20 weeks and you could start work as a Trainee Driving Instructor in as little as 16 weeks.
Most people take between 6 months and 18 months to qualify which is more like around 50 weeks. The number who are up and working within 16 weeks on a trainee license can probably be counted on one hand.
3.Pass rates 50% higher than the national average.
The number of new entrants onto the Approve Driving Instructor register over the last 5 years is 24,679. The number who retired/resigned over this period is 12,852. The total number who applied to become ADIs with the DSA over the same period of time was 103,018. Therefore, 24% make it onto the register and 76% don’t. If Red driving school do sell 65% of all courses it is virtually a mathematical impossibility for them to have double the national pass rate either in numbers or in tests taken.
4. 100 pupils a year guaranteed gives the false impression you will achieve the earnings figures such companies appear to promise.
Such guarantees are just pie in the sky. The companies that make such promises can usually wriggle out of them in one way or another. Lets Drive was probably the first company to make such promises but rarely had to deliver because several obstacles were always in the way; discouraging the “would be” trainee from joining the school in the first place, the most obvious of which was to make sure the majority never passed the final exam. Even if they did qualify to prove they had broken the pupil guarantee the person would have to stay on the franchise for 12 months. While they guarantee pupils they don’t say when within the 12 month period these pupils are going to be supplied, at what lesson price they are going to be obtained or whether the pupil is within an economic distance to travel. If you are not earning any money or very little it is very difficult to continue paying the driving school £800 per month for the full 12 month period to show they didn’t deliver the pupils guranteed. Some people who have trusted such companies have found themselves with large debts being chased by the very schools they trusted not to be lying.
I signed up to become a driving instructor, after seeing the Red Driving School ad on TV. As you all know the "Training" is carried out by "The Instructor College Direct". I can only liken them to the building society the advertizes on TV New Customers Only you know the one. The college takes your money then just does not want to know. I have sent 2 letters of complaint to the college but they do not have the good manners to send a reply. My advise to anyone thinking of signing up is DON'T DO IT unless you have £3645 (Now gone up to £3900) to throw away.
I have just had me interview and driving assesment with the instructor college/Red and was told I would make a very good drivig instructor. My course is going to cost around £3736, but after reading these comments I think I will give it a miss. I was told I will earn loads of money for only working part time hours. To be honest I believed all the chat untill my dad found this site. Plus in my interview there were 2 men that had just been made redundant! So I think i will save my money, thanks everyone and good luck!
have been adi for 4 years now have never struggled as much as i am now every time i go out i see new instructors all the time, the work is drying up dont be sucked in by promises of easy money !!ps currently teaching a lad who works for red on phones could just as well be selling double glazing desperate people phoning him all day and falling for the con dont fall or you'll land in bullshit
THANKS to this blog on saving me from making a big mistake. I was thinking of joining the Instructor College after seeing the adverts. They are so misleading it really boils my blood. Thanks again, God Bless you all.
Hi, I trained with the Instructor College. This was a few years ago but from what I have heard they are now not very good.It's the lousy pay that causes the overall standard of driving instructors to be incredibly low.
I think all the posts on here have just saved me £3600, had been for my initial chat with RED and like a lot of other people fell for all there stories of how good the life of a instructor is and how much money could be made, (the sales guy even claimed to be a ex copper). i think after reading many comment on so many message brds i will be cancelling my second appointment in 2 days time saving my money and spend a lot more time looking into the industry and finding a reputable local self employed trainer to teach me should i still decide on this option as a carear. Thank you all for the help
I saw the ads on TV and thought I'd give them a look. When I got all the information through, My hubby asked if he could tag along as he wanted a career change to.
I will say I went there with open eyes, as the saying goes " If it sounds too good to be true, It probably is"
We sat there for 1 and 1/2 hours. Whilst the guy went through a sales pitch. When people asked very relevant questions he seemed to skirt around them. Then I noticed a few things he said was very wrong.
That we'd only have to work a 40 hour week to earn £900 pw. when I tried to point that was slightly incorrect as Even if I was fully booked all week, driving from 1 pupil to the next would take up time. and would be more like 50 hrs
His answer to that was "of course you would book your pupil to take double lessons".
Now I have a 17 year old daughter who is taking driving lessons and her instructor asked if she would do this and she declined because like most teenagers she doesn't have a spare £40 a week infact never mind teenagers most people don't have £160-200 spare per month
He told also us that "Red" was just a company that passed people on to TIC and not part of their company. ( a lie)
And the beginning he told us the TIC trained ADI's for all the major including the AA. Yet about an hour later when I told him the AA training package
was £2200, his answer was the AA training package was rubbish compaired to theirs. (???)
And we had to sign within 7 days to qualify for the special offer of TIC paying for our ADI tests.
I looked around the room after and most people had fallen for it and we're willing to book the assessment
Now all through this something was bugging me. this reminded me of something what was it. Oh yes I remember now TIMESHARE.
Get you in a room, fed you a load of bullshit, get you all fired up and then chuck in the financial incentive at the end. And BAM you'll sign away £4800.
A saying, courtesy of Forest gump (lol)
"Stupid is as stupid does."
I recently went for the infotmal interview with RED at a local hotel.
I fell for the sales pitch and felt good when I was told I was "trainable to be an instructor" after the BASIC 10 minute driving assesment.
I really feel stupid now as I've agreed to meet up again and sign up for the course. (Phone call later today to cancel that meeting!)
I'm not driven by the promise of up to £30k a year. My passion is safe driving. I often find myself thinking how dangerous people's driving is. Too fast, unaware, no indications.
I'm 25, which I'm guessing is on the young side to be a driving instructor, not sure. I think driving is a privilage not a right. It would be great to teach someone to drive in a safe manor.
My ultimate aim would be to perhaps train ambulance and police drivers.
I thought RED would have been the perfect start, but after reading all this, I'm changing my mind!
At the age of 17, 3 weeks after passing my test, I turned my parents car over and totally wrecked it. Very, very stupid! It took me being an arse to realise that driving safe is so important. I know what it's like to loose total control of a car. I'm passionate about safe driving and don't want people to make the mistake I made!
I guess I should have realised something wasn't right when all the guy at the interview asked for was my license and proof of address and then the pitch began. I don't think he cared about my views on safe driving.
I'm off to research and think about my options.
Thank you for all the comments.
Scott, Cornwall.
Umm, sorry about the poor spelling above, it's 5.50am, I've been up 24 hours and I seem to have lost the ability to type and make sense!!!
Good god!!! I have to say there are some fair comments made on here - but also some down right lies!!!! Get your facts straight people before you go talking crap.
I successfully passed all my courses with Red 4 months ago - and my diary is full and I've had to ask them to stop giving me new students! Work hard for it and then you'll be successful - you don't get anywhere just by moaning!!!!!
Anonymous, I don't know who you are, but I find it hard to believe that a 4 month old new driving instructor has a full diary!
You won't be a red driving school agent?
I was speaking to an AA driving school instructor of 18 years today, and he doesn't have a full diary despite being in london, covering 9 post codes and being available for 62 hours in the week!
There is a liar in our midst, and even worse he offends the professional instructors by trying to apply bovine faeces.
Credit us with a little brain please anon, unless you are one of the many part time instructors with a maximum diary space of 6 hours a week of course!
Oh and yes, I have the guts to state my name, call Carl for more info and I was a trainer for three years with TIC, that’s when it was “two arms, two legs, two grand” and as long as you had a heart beat you were in; Now its “two arms, two legs and three grand and no matter if you have a stammer”
Hi All,
So, your sick to death of working for the man and being in the system so you decide that being self employed is the best option. Well congratuations. It is.
I take my hat off to those who are bold enough to do so.
So you have made up your mind now what? there are so many options out there, i chose to Invest in property and also help other investors too. But you chose to become a driving instructor. Again well done.
The point is you are buying a franchise here people. This is your business and to go into business with very little money to pay for the training and then nothing else is stupid.
Starting a business requires contingencey and a good bank manager.
before going into business with RED or anyone else did you not read the small print? Did you not get advice?
Surely they told you the costs and thet to expect to pay X amount in year 1 and so...
in my fisrt year of business i made a loss but my contingency made it possible to continue with blaming anyone else.
before blaming anyone, look at yourself. you made the decision to do this and it seems to me that everyone is blaming someone else other than looking at them selfs.
I wish everyone would go self employed. Its fantastic. but people before you do plan ahead for the tough times aswell as the good times.
All the best
in reply to these comments.
1: yes you do pay a fee to red but it is less than £200 pound per week
2:no there are no gaurantees but there none in any job.
3: there is plenty of work, the only instructors who can't get work are the bad ones.
4: you only get nasty letters from the tax man if you do the tax yourself and cock it up, the same as any self-employed person will tell you.
5:the pass mark for part 3 is around 80%
6:no slef employed person gets holiday or sick so you have to make provision for this
7: the training costs are all inclusive and less than £4000 none of which has to be paid up front with no hidden costs unlike some other schools
8: all these points are made clear to people when they go to a meeting with red, nothing is secret
9: i have been with red for a whlie now, been through the training and have nothing bit good experiences of all the aspects of being an adi, the only people who have bad remarks to make are either lazy, bad at the job, or are to thick to complete the training and are incompetent
8:
At least one of the 18,000 people to whom Red recently sold a course to is very happy ... humm whats that as a percentage?
I have well over 20 years experience in the driver training and testing industry, I am now a full time driving instructor trainer, I have had several peolpe come to me for training from red and from other large instructor training bodies, mostly they have failed the part 3 exam at least once and have lost faith in their trainers because of this. I make a point of gathering as much info as i can from other trainers, so i have all the work books from red and other companies, i am not going to slag off anyone because it is unprofessional, but the feedback that i get from pdi's is that too much time is spent in a classroom and not enough time in the car,and seemingly once the trainee has had the minimum 40 hours they take the test, regardless of whether they are feeling confident and ready, and when they fail and try to get more training, there is no trainer readily available so the pdi does not get continuity of training, also mostly are trained on a two to one basis.
I am a one man band and i will only opperate on a one to one basis, so you get my undivided attention, i also give accurate feedback, and i supply all training material free of charge, and i charge an hourly rate, so you only pay for what you need.If anyone requires training who is not in my area, then I can travel to you, if you can accomodate me, or i can accomodate you. Training to be an instructor is not easy, nor is it rocket science, it is up to your trainer to impart the required knowledge and skills in a clear and logical manner. i really enjoy teaching people how to teach, that is why i have a very high pass rate and i specialise in part 3 training, and i am not money orientated. If anyone would like an informal chat, or even a little advice then feel free to ring me anytime on 07900541875
hi was going with red but reading all the things i dont knowwhat to do i am just looking for a part time work beause i ot a morring job so if any one can help me i would be gertfull for there help
hi am mary i went to a meeting with red and it sound good put a mate of mine look in to it be for he was going to do it and foundlots of things was not right i was told when i past which take up tp 18 weeks i get a car from them and i would have to pay them 175 aweek and with my tax and stamp out i could tke home 2000 a month that working from 40 hours aweek i am onmy own and it a lot of money no pay out they said it would cost 369oo fr all the teast untill i past so i dont know why i was told that if it not true plsany one let me know what is right thank u mary
hello. I would just like to say I found many of your comments very enlightening and these really helped me to decide on the right career path when it came to becoming a driving instructor. I found a video link which I feel helps reflect and summarise strongly the majority of opinions expressed on this blog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ny7YOsHjKs
Thank you all for saving me from making a huge mistake. I was hoping to earn more money but if it's really as bad as you say, I would almost certainly have lost my house and probably my husband too!
Hi I'm a disgruntled moron who has a serious bee in his bonnet. I hate RED and TIC. They are evil. I swear the directors are the spawn of Hitler and Beverly Allitt. Why cant people be more self righteous and always 100% correct like me?!
Its crazy to think that big companies like RED or BSM can offer more financial opportunities and support then me on my todd.
I was at a RED interview thing and I refused to listen and take in all the facts just because I knew it was a scam thanks to extremely credible comments made on blogs such as this as well as some really shoddy journalism. I find the best way to vent my inconsolable rage is to spam blogs with anonymous user comments and make out they are different people. Its great so see this blog is so genuine.
My mate Winston Churchill said one of his mate's sister's hygienist was attacked by RED employees wielding numb chuckers and a bag full of killer bees. They are so inhuman and obviously stupid.
I hate having to pay money to pass my instructor tests! I don't want to persevere, work hard and pay my way. I want copious amounts of money now! :(
I despise the guy who praised RED on this blog. 1 in 18,000 people who are happy with them pft what a cretin. The other 17,999 emailed me just to confirm they never liked him anyways.
Yes I too have the guts to state my name. Its Jeremy! (Thinking) erm actually how about Greg..yes I will sign in as a Greg. I always liked that name.
Do you guys like ice lolly's? If you do I am sure you'll all agree that the wrong end of the stick tastes so much better.
Its interesting hearing some of your comments.
My opinion is that there are many schools out there that arent giving honest advice on what to expect once qualified with them.
You might have a school that trains alot of instructors but not alot of general pupils. So once all these guys qualify they have very little hours at that school, also these contracts that instructors sign tying them to a school with clauses!!! why do this? find a school without a contract - we do exist.
We - www.passngo.net - have just launched our instructor centre but we cant forsee a problem as our school seems to be busy compared to most. I hear stories of no one can get work and there are too many adi's for the work to go around but if im honest i dont even see that problem myself as we have too much work to cover and we have over 52 instructors in the north east!!
I do think it a case of the school you go with and that they need to be good at everything and not just training adi's.
Watch the Trevor MacDonald To Night show on ITV1 at 8pm Friday 27th March where Red driving school (amoungst others) are shown as potential Scams to be avoided.
Anyone with Red or thinking of going with Red should watch it with interest.
Where you fooled into parting with your money to become a driving instructor believing there was a national shortage of driving instructors about to become more acute as stated in the brochure handed out by Red/TIC??? Find out the real facts you might want your money back.
ironic i was linked here from a instructor training website. Go Drive.they garauntee 1st year income. offer holiday pay. train now pay later. 0% loans for training costs. so whats their story, what am i missing
Firstly do you honestly believe your first year’s income can be guaranteed? I’ll tell you what, you train with me and I’ll guarantee you will earn at least £25 a year, how’s that?
Pay as you train? I was one of the first if not the first to introduce that over eight years ago so that’s not new, Holliday pay? Come on, please tell me you don’t believe that, My full franchisees have 4 weeks franchise free weeks per year, but they know their monthly franchise is calculated to cover twelve months so they don’t really get paid for it!
What a load of crap!!
This forum is proving to be a very good source of information for those interested in becoming a driving instructor. If you read all the posts you will realise the message is quiet clear. DON’T DO IT, but why not?
The profession (it is a profession) is now a cottage industry infected with money motivated training outfits preying on the unfortunate unemployed who are desperate to earn a crust for their families. The most prolific being RED, AKA The Instructor College (Lansdowne Venture Group) I speak as an ex trainer for the aforementioned and know that their first concern is profit and not road safety. I am not however singling them out because they are astute enough to invest in high profile advertising; it’s paid off big time so fair play to their business acumen.
There are many more training outfits with the same objective and disregard for the future of their clients if they become one of the 30% that succeed.
I am concerned that this forum is being used to advertise ADI training, why should I believe these trainers any more than RED?
90% of my PDIs come by referral, the rest from my website.
I am convinced that unless drastic legislation is introduced (dream on) there wont be professional driving instructors any more just price cutting idiots running around like headless chickens pretending to be professionals trying to make ends meet. There is only one outcome; the roadside will be a beautiful display of followers for mile after mile all year round, because the kids will be taught how to drive round test routes and if they are really lucky they may even drive on a duel carriageway!!
Bottom line anon, don’t believe anything you hear or read, including this! Do your sums, do your research, get it right and you could be a good driving instructor earning £28 - £35 per hour, get it wrong and you will have wasted at least 4k
Good luck
Sorry if any of this is irrelevant - I read two thirds of the page and couldn't take anymore!
I'm currently training to become a driving instructor with BSM. I didn't get conned in to it and am very happy with the decision I've made. My partner's step father was a BSM franchised instructor for 5 years and for the past 3 or 4 years has been running his own successful driving school.
First thing to consider is speaking to the trainer!!! With BSM you will be trained by one person only, the same for LDC and i believe the AA too. TIC are different which is why i don't like them. Also, some people can pass part 3 with a 5 day intensive course but the vast majority cannot!
Part one with any training provider requires home study and a lot of it... If you don't fully understand the concenpts and idea's behind every aspect of the theory you stand no chance of becoming an ADI.
Yes TIC and others are misleading with the 30Kpa... Try 16-24K and you're being more realistic although this will be dependant upon your franchise fee.
Also, You will have to work unsociable hours - Evenings and weekends are the busiest times for driving instructors!
The biggest problem here is people go in to these things with their eyes closed! If someone asked you if you wanted to be a maths teacher, would you automatically assume it would be easy? And would you think you are good enough to do the job just because you know your times table?
I think the answer to the last bit will be a NO from most people... So why is it people assume that because they hold a driving licence they will be able to teach people to drive?
It's bloody hard and doesn't pay well... If you want to do it for the right reasons then it doesn't matter who you train with as long as you get on with the trainer and you are prepared to work your backside off!!!
Hi there guys...i feel like a complete fool...signed up last year with RED but have not paid anything yet and not had any training....i have signed the contract how do get out of it....does anyone know what i can do.....after reading these comments i feel i have made a big mistake:(
Michael,
Not sure about the t&c's with Red but if you've not paid then your life is easier for sure!
I would suggest contacting the citizens advice bureau to find out your rights and then contact Red in writing. Whatever you do, do not speak to them over the phone or in person, only in writing. That way you cannot be pressured or told lies etc. They have to follow the letter of the law in writing otherwise you can screw em in court.
ITV Tonight programme showed the lies Red driving school/The instructor College/LVG ltd use to get the unspecting public to part with £3,500+ Look at the ITV Tonight website and watch last nights show (i.e. 27th March)
Lie 1. You can expect to earn £600 per week.
Lie 2. The job is recession proof.
Lie 3. There is a national shortage of driving instructors in the UK.
Lie 4. It is usual to qualify within 20 weeks.
Take your pick any or all of the above if you have any liturature from them or copies of there webpages etc with these lies on them or you are confident you remember the sales person stating such lies you have good grounds for misrepresentation and a full refund if you would not have gone ahead if you knew these to be lies in the first place. In other words you relied on these false representations such tthat they become part of the contract in UK law.
I've got to say I wasn't told any of those "lies" at my meeting at TIC. In fact many of the points raised in ITV's show where sensationalist to say the least! Especially when discussing the "aftershave franchise".
The Tonight show has always been sensationalistic, using hyperbole, emotive language and dramatic music and graphics. Just look at the headline to advertise next weeks show; "our Killer Hospitals"!!!!!
For example, one of the points emphasised in the show was that "red state that you may be qualified in 20 weeks". In fact if ITV had read the TIC info pack or had seen Red's website, they both state it [b]may be possible to complete training[/b] in 20 weeks! NOT QUALIFIED! Very poor research and journalistic technique by ITV to quote RED incorrectly.
Also ITV said they contacted "40 instructors" to discuss income.
40 instructors? Less than 0.1% of the ADI register? Who are these 40? ADIs, PDIs, Part timers, semi retired, working full time? Very, very ambiguous. ALL SCHOOLS, RED, LDC, BSM, The AA, Surepass, Passmasters, etc... ALL state "upto £600 per week" because one of the benefits most ADIs find is that they dont need to work full time therefore they will not all earn £600 pw!
UPTO!!!!!
Some ADIs I know who teach, work for police forces, run driving schools, do fleet training all earn in excess of 40K. Again ITV should be ashamed of themselves. Where was the balance? Where were the successful ADIs?
I admire ITV as they know that the same people who dont realise ADI training takes effort also dont appreciate the subtlties of tabloid journalism in making a sensationalist 'documentary',
SO YOU WANT TO BE A DRIVING INSTRUCTOR?
Fair enough but first read the following and if you are still interested call me, I will know you are serious and have your eyes open
The Corby Effect was a term coined in the 1980`s when British steel closed down the steel mills in the town of Corby, hundreds of redundant steel workers were wooed into spending their redundancy money on training to be driving instructors, their redundancy package was more than enough to pay the training fees and the `pink license` enabled them to charge as little as half the lesson prices of established and reputable driving instructors who depended on their profession for a living.
The advertising was powerful and cleverly worded to mislead
As a consequence dozens of established and excellent driving instructors were forced out of the profession they depended upon for a living
Welcome to The Corby Effect Mark 2
Ask any established driving instructor and he or she will confirm that this paradox is happening again but on a nationwide scale, current DERF (Driver Education Research Foundation) research confirms what established instructors across the UK have known for months.
The big difference is this time with TV commercials in addition to newspaper advertisements the demise of good instructors will come quicker than in the 80`s. The driving instructor training business is already booming, imagine what will happen as the recession really bites and not hundreds but thousands of redundancy packages get sucked into the ADI production line churning out new instructors by the hundreds each parting with over £3k and that’s before qualification!
So take heed, the work is out there for the instructor who is prepared to work at it and develop a sound reputation, this could take years and in the meantime he or she will have to battle against ridiculous price wars between too many local instructors.
For realistic costs and a chat e mail me: info@progressive-uk.com
Thanks guys for the feedback, i appreciate you for your time:)
Initially from their TV adverts and their website I thought it was a proper job where you can earn around £500-£600 per week. However, when I went to the Red College in Stockport this year I realised it was a self employed position but because there was supposedly such a national shortage of driving instructors I did think the money was virtually guaranteed. They also made it sound like little training was needed and it would be straight forward to pass. Luckily I was warned about them by a relative who advised me to look elsewhere. Below are some direct quotes I got from the brochure they handed out to me at the meeting:
“The career is as recession proof as they come”
“There is a national shortage of qualified Driving Instructors set to become even more acute”
“You can start work as a trainee instructor in as little as 12 weeks.”
“Alternatively, you can wait to start work until you pass the final qualifying test, taking around 20 weeks”
So on reflection I think the Trevor MacDonald ITV Tonight team did a very fair job of exposing how 10,000s of people are loosing their redundancy money to less than honest companies such as Red driving school.
Cheers
Jon O
Sue I was considering training as a instructor, but thanks to my friend Gerry, i read all the comments and wont do it.
Thanks
The BBC Tonight programme didn't really fully investigate the issues around becoming a driving instructor; it was basically a "watch-what-you-do-with-your-hard-earned-cash" documentary, focusing on The Instructor College as one of the schemes willing to take your cash in exchange for training you as a driving instructor. I doubt very much The Instructor College is a crooked business, but they certainly operate a sharp practice.
The induction interview consists mainly of the achievable earnings of driving instructors; up to 50k, based on working 40 hours a week @ 25 per hour, less expenses (car hire, fuel, insurance/income tax etc.)gives a potential net income of around 30k. More than a headmaster earns.
You are told - I certainly was - that the business is recession proof, there is a national shortage of instructors, and that it is possible to become a trainee driving instructor within six months.
What you are not told - and I certainly wasn't - is that obtaining Diclosure can take between six and nine weeks, and passing the basic theory and hazard perception test can take another month. And they both cost money.
You need to be very, very careful before entering into any deal with the Instructor College. Take time to read everything twice and get somebody else to read it, too.
I don't know if they still offer a "no payment now" scheme, but - if they do - it's actually a personal loan from Barclays Bank with a very high interest rate payable if the loan isn't paid back within a year.
Learning to become a driving instructor might be a good idea if you're retired, have the spare cash
and the time to train, and are determined.
Oh yes. You need to be good at computer games, too. And lucky. That's the only way you'll pass the DSA hazard perception test.
My name is Gary, dont have a log in.
I have recently (2 weeks ago) signed up with Red. Everything written above isnt what I have experienced.
The franchise payments that people are quoting is not what I was told. I was told (based on a 40 hour week) that it was the first 7 lessons per week that were the payment, ie, around £164 ish. For this, with Red, you get the car, family insurance, accountant and 25 students.
I know the advert says awesome lifestyle, instant 30k etc, but I didnt believe that and havnet since either. I appreciate the hours are anti social etc.
So why are people saying it is franchise payments of £5000 over 6 months when I work it out as less than £4000.
I have also been told up front about the training and costs. I have been told I am guaranteed a pass in regards to the training I need. Not money wise. I was told straight from the start that if i was to fail a part, i would have to pay the retest. This wasnt hidden.
I am under no illusions that this will be easy, but all the 'scam' accusations above dont seem to have applied to me. I seem to have been told other wise.
However, all that said, I was told that there was a shortage of driving instructors.
They also didnt lie to me about the training length. They have told me, dpeending on how i progress and the amount of time i put in, it could take from 4 months to 2 years.
My main concern at hte moment is not all the hard work, which doesnnt bother me at all (i get the feeling it bothers alot of people above) but the fact i was told we would get 25 students and that would continue, ie, 1 for 1 as a student passed. Keeping you at 25 students.
I am slightly concerned now reading all the above and have already signed up. Havnet paid yet though. I have my first lesson tomorrow afternoon and might pop in early to have a chat with them before I start.
My point is, i can understand that there is a recession on and that it is hard work, being self employed always has been for the vast majority of sole traders, however, it seems that most of the posts above have been told TOTALLY different things to me and all the gripes that most have, have already been explained to me before signing up.
But, I'm still not sure what to do now.
No driving school can guarantee you a certain amount of pupils. All the national driving schools have a call centre / offices and they advertise in various places, and it is impossibile for the school to predict where in the uk the lessons enquiries are going to be coming from.
Gary, I would ask TIC how they can guarantee you 25 pupils. Also if they can't get you any pupils you will still have to pay a franchise fee. Especially when looking at their yearly accounts TIC make 90% of their money from the training course fee and only 5% from the driving school and the remaining 5% from other ventures.
I have been ringing around driving schools looking at their franchise packages and so far I think the best package is with Learner Driving Centres. Their franchise fee is only £30 a week, which doesn't include a car but their rental cars are price ranged from about £80-£90 (which also includes insurance and VAT) per week. Which is still cheaper than other franchises. If you have a suitable small car they let you use that vehicle. LDC advertise your name and telephone number on their website, yell.com, google and on the car livery so there is the opportunity for customers to contact the driving instructor directly, and the first month franchise is free.
Every driving school local or national offer different things and I think everyone should research the schools, work out a business plan and see which is best for them. Some people prefer and are sucessful at going at it alone. Everyone to their own I say just don't rush in to the decision - which seems to be what a lot of people are doing when they go to a TIC meeting, they get dazzled by the talk, but in my opinion TIC can't walk the walk.
In the episode entitled “How to blow your redundancy” the ITV Tonight team closely examined Red driving school and concluded that the vast majority of those who bought a driving instructor training course from Red driving school would never qualify within 20 weeks or earn the £30K per annum. Also contrary to claims made by Red driving school they did not consider that there was a national shortage of driving instructors or that the job was recession proof.
David Downing the Chief Executive of Red driving school totally refuted these findings. There are clearly two sides to this story so you need to see both for yourself before you accept anything written on here.
if in doubt go to a test centre and talk ,to the instructors waiting for their pupils on test they wont lie they wont glamour the job up most of them will tell it for what it is , its hard work unsociable hours and at times frustrating but if you are not bothered by that go for it ,but please look up a local trainer who does it to put good able instructors on the road ,it will be cheaper and the training you get will be in most cases better than someone meeting targets and acting like a salesman.
A fool and their money....
Hi folks, sorry to be blunt but let’s cut to the chase here.
Ask yourself, what attracted you to RED Instructor Training in the first place. I bet it was the TV adverts selling you a life style with all the trappings of success; Right?
For many of you, becoming a driving instructor was not a desire or love of the industry nor was it a passion to play your part in helping to make our roads safer.
Teaching people to drive is a vocation, not a career born out of greed and fancy advertising.
When parting with large amounts of money it is your responsibility to ensure you know what you are buying. Do your research.
I qualified as an ADI in 1989, that’s twenty years ago. The regulations around driving instructors have changed over this time but the job itself has changed very little.
Red Instructor Training advertising is bull shit! If you want to spend vast amounts of money training as a driving instructor without doing your research first then go ahead.
Life as a driving instructor IS NOT a 'Get Rich Quick' scheme. It’s a hard, steep learning curve during your training period which can take many years in some cases or between 1-2 years for most. Once qualified, it is a long slow process as your business evolves and as you continue leaning. The reason many PDI’s (Potential Driving Instructors) gave for started along the driving instructor path when asked was,
‘I’m a good driver and I like people!’
So what! Big deal! Everyone considers themselves to be a good driver and most people like some people some of the time. This is no qualification or reason to want to a driving instructor. Also remember, everything you think you know about driving will be stripped away, your eyes will be opened wide and your driving ego will be bashed. FACT
Let’s look at a few of the un-told truths.
£30'000 per year.
Yep this is achievable. Beware, this is a gross figure.
To earn this kind of money you would need to be teaching in the region of 29 hours a week at £20 per hour. Now add your travelling time between lessons, this will average out at around 30 mins per lesson. That takes us up to 43.5 hours per week. We have also got to add around 5 hours per week administration time. Now don't forget that admin time and travel time is unpaid because as a self employed driving instructor you only get paid when you are actually teaching. You will also need to allow about 2 hours per week for car maintenance and cleaning. Ok, so far you are earning £577 per week for 50.5 hours. Easy to do the maths here, that’s £11.43 hourly rate (gross).
Work when you want.
Nope, sorry folks. The nature of the job is such that you will need to teach when your pupils are available. In the vast majority of cases this is going to mean working over 7 days with early starts, late evenings and with the vast majority of your work being weekends and bank holidays. During the day, Monday to Friday, you may well find your car parked up a lot of the time.
Recession proof.
Rubbish - If you believe that then you don't deserve to be a driving instructor or indeed to run any business, self employed or not.
When people are short of money for rent, mortgages, food etc driving lessons are not a high priority. Another example, every year on the run up to Christmas you will notice a drop in your booked lessons. Once again, with an expensive time of the year looming, driving lessons are the first to go. While we are on this subject, another consideration is pupil retention. If you are a good driving instructor with the sole purpose of imparting a life skill onto your pupils, you lose them. Your reward for doing a good job is the loss of the pupil because they will have passed their driving test.
These days many driving lessons are sold on a 2 hour basis, great you may think but when say 3 of your pupils pass their driving test in any given week that’s £120 per week gap to fill, add to this an average of say 2 pupils not turning up for their lessons you can easily be looking at £200 drop in your weekly wage.
Expenses.
Remember I suggested your hourly pay may be in the region of £11.43 per hour gross. Let’s now look at the expenses you will incur as a qualified ADI.
If you decide to work for an established driving school once you have qualified you are going to need to take into account a few things.
Franchise fee.
This varies across the country and from school to school. The big boys of the industry will be charging you a weekly franchise fee of between £250 to £350 on average. Let’s do our calculations on the lower figure of £250. Your gross weekly pay has just dropped from £577 to £327 which equals an hourly rate of just £6.47
Fuel.
Fuel costs will be your responsibility and you can expect to be paying in the region of £50 to £70 per week on fuel.
There are many many other expenses you will incur as a driving instructor but please remember that all the earning figures here are gross and do not take into account tax and national insurance.
Remember: No holiday pay, No sick pay. Over sleep in the morning and it's costing you big time.
Remember: Franchise fees have to be paid regardless of hours worked or pupils on your books.
Moral of the story:
Please do your research
Don't swallow the bull
Nothing is for nothing
While £30'000 gross is achievable, you will need to work many more hours than 50.5 per week to achieve a £30’000 pa life style!
Unless you view driving instruction as a vocation. Please don't waste your valued money!
I sincerely hope this helps you decide which way to go and saves you much heartache.
Andy
LOAN is the really frightening word. To think that someone who is broke enough to need a loan would take on a training course that probably will not get them a qualification and even if they qualify will probably not make enough money to live on really stuns me. The loan HAS to be paid back and will probably double if you fail to pay it on time. while the loan is hanging over you there is still the fact that you have to pay the franchise fee regardless of your earnings.
You don't HAVE to take out a franchise but once again if you are broke enough to need a loan then how else are you going to cover the cost of procuring and running a car? They will no doubt tell you that you can pay the loan back out of your earnings but if you've read the post above from Andy then you already know what the answer to that is!
I watched the Tonight programme and the sad thing for me was that I took one look at the guy on the show and thought he would have no chance of qualifying. He seemed like a nice enough bloke but he didn't seem like a self starter to me and you do need to be to survive as an ADI. I don't think he can be blamed for being taken in by Red, They are well practised at it and he is just an ordinary punter who doesn't know the score.
He seemed to think, like every other punter that because Red are the only ones to advertise so widely that they are the only game in town. Shop around.
RED are crafty though. Someone at RED actually sat down and thought to themselves, 'How can we get people who have no money to sign up for our expensive courses'.
We know how many people have signed up with RED because it's all part of their accounts but how many would have signed up if there was no loan option?
Thanks everyone for your comments, I have just divorced and was looking at a new career as a driving instructor, these sort of false claims of potential earnings etc. would have surely sent me under big time.
I have recently looked in to becoming a Driving Instructor with RED, TIC in Wimbledon.
Went along for the introduction and was impressed with what was being said.
For me, having been laid off from a higher paid job recently, the salary was a very relevant part.
It was explained that you for a 40 hour week, the first 11 hours worth would effectively go to your Franchise fees to the Driving School and the rest is then yours.
So - the remaining 29 hours at £24 p/hr = £696
All well and good so far.
Then we were told that the income tax payable after doing your tax return would equate to around 8% p.a. with all the relevant allowances - and in the example done on the board in this group, the lady deducted £70 off, so giving a take-home net income of £626 per week - so £,2500 for a 4-week month.
My father is a tax accountant and couldn't see how it would be less than £120 a week in tax etc, so I was confused and when we asked directly, the lady (Sharon) said she doesn't understand the ins and outs - but that the accountants used by most the Driving Instructors are specialists in their industry and achieve this sort of figure. We asked her about her Profit and Loss statement - as she's been an instructor for 20 odd years apparently - and she wouldn't add much, stating ignorance/non-understanding of such things.....
The thing is - that without my existing car - I could live on the £2,500 per month - but did not want to start in to this if it was to be less than that - quite simply as it would mean that either I will have to downsize house etc - or work many extra hours to bring in the extra income - so knowing the facts on this are important!
The other aspect is the Guarantee of work. Being told that due to a national shortage of driving instructors, you can walk in to a 'job' (self-employed basis) with a driving school - not just RED, but AA, BSM etc if preferred.
Again - for me, recently unemployed - this is important as I will have used my savings as salary to pay my bills whilst training and would need to start working as an instructor swiftly on full hours once qualified. Is it truth that you can get the full-time hours immediately in such a situation??
So many questions and a lot of doubts, having seen the forum and various comments around the place.....
Do you know who is reputable for such training!!!? How long does it really take? We were told that they could not say how long it takes, as people learn at different rates - but various comments on here suggest it comes down to availability of tests etc too, so even if I learn quickly, other aspects may slow me down.... somehting I cannot afford in my current situation.
HELP!! ahhh ......
I deleted the comment above because it is a duplicate of a comment posted on the Red Driving School franchise post.
I do apologise if placing that item offends in some way or breaks the rules of your blog. You are the administrator so 'Your Gaff, Your Rules'.
I did make it plain that the piece had been previously placed elsewhere right at the start and only redid the piece because I believed it was relevant to the writer of the latest post and might be of some help.
The point of that piece was to illustrate the fact that you don't have to tie yourself into a particular organisation or spend several thousand pounds on training.
While I'm here and I've got your attention, thanks very much for starting this site. People need to be made aware of what is going on in our industry and if the site stops just a few people from being ripped off then it's all been worthwhile.
Yes I had a nasty experience which will take too long to go into, but basically I was told to take out a career development loan (while I was unemployed!) They prey on vulnerable people. I am so glad for the comments here that make people aware. They will persuade you, so be strong...
Recently I received several mails from people who are in the same situation as me and we are willing to join forces against Red. This is just to update you guys of progress. The Finance Ombudsman Service are in contact with The Instructor College (LVG Ltd) about my case and I hope they can help. I do believe that even though The Instructor College lie to most of us verbally, there should be consequences. They law cannot permit companies to lie to people as long as they lie verbally.
I have also contacted the Trading Standards Agency for London Borough of Harrow and Brent, and they have opened a case to investigate the matter. I argued that The Instructor College are engaged in business malpractices and they use dubious techniques to get innocent people to sign up for their training course. Telling lies to customers is illegal, and Trading Standards will take legal action against the company.
I have pointed out to the Trading Standards Agency that many people have falling victims to the scam and Trading Standards would like anyone who has been miss-sold the training course to write to them explaining the exact circumstances.
Please, could you all write the Trading Standards Agency using the address and reference number provided below? Remember to explain all details of the lies TIC told you before you sign up with them.
Note: Trading Standards Agency are aware that the victims are spread throughout the UK, but they are able to open this case in my name to cover all victims. So please do you best to write them ASAP to highlight your individual dispute with The Instructor College.
Please write to:
Samuel Abdullahi
Trading Standards Agency
London Boroughs of Brent and Harrow
Quality House
249 Willesden Lane
London
NW2 5JH
Reference number: 160666
I have also informed Trading Standards to look the Issue On ITV Tonight Programme. The video is no linger accessible on ITV website, but it is available on UTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnhkyLYbqIY
Please also contact the Financial Ombudsman Service to complain about the dispute with The Instructor College. The more people contact the agencies, the better our chances of resolving the issues.
I was due for an 'interview' next week, thanks for the heads up guys- was close to getting ripped off and throwing away a good career! Think I'll cancel it now.
It makes sense for people who have been to Red assessments and heard the spiel but not signed up to get in touch too. They can back up the evidence of those who've got ripped off. They will need proof of what was said.
Hmm all good stuff , just been for the RED meeting and the driving assessment ...flew through it without even a license check ..what a coincidence. Also asked for a few supporting figs ref. instructor throughput, post code locations and numbers of lessons being booked , strange but no figs available .
Instructor chappie was also "ex-police" apparently for a few weeks ..must look good on the CV. Franchise car at £150 a week for 18 months = £11k ish , probably better off buying a year old motor or even 2 at todays prices ..!! Cancellations appear to be one of the biggest income threats so I guess a surcharge should be imposed , but do you want to risk upsetting the pupil!
In summary preying on the
desperate , is paying dividends to RED profits. A clever niche market ploy in todays climate , but is it morally right ...
Go in with yours eyes and ears open and read the small print .. Its tantamount to pyramid selling ...ok if you get in early ....BUT THE MARKETS FLOODED ....
Tee Hee Hee, Red Driving School? TIC? Red Driver Training? Very one sided blog chaps.Not everyone is good enough to be a driving instructor, blame the DSA they are the group who set the tests. I recieved the same training as you and I passed. I am staggered at the cheek of some people who think it is their god given right to be waited on hand and foot by ANY instructional establishment.It's called "Training" of which YOU have to commit MORE than the trainers. Work, Practice, Listen, Study, Learn. Oh no, cant do that because i paid £3000? I paid my training course off after FOUR WEEKS working with RED.so can it be done? I done it? but you cant?
To be an instructor is one thing, to be a successful instructor is another. I work too damn hard to have my name and my company name "Dirtied" by morons who "Want a change of career" because you are already sh#te at what you do? Give over now play fair. Be a hairdresser,MP,Binman there you can talk sh#te all day and no one cares, no one gets hurt. In my job I am trained to teach REAL people to drive safely, responibly and with respect to all others around them, they keep idiots like YOU safe.I hope you dont want to be Instructors, the public are safer without you.
I'm just asking myself if you are the sort of character I would like my son or daughter to sit in a car with.
The answer is no.
P.S, I am a driving instructor too. I've been one for longer than you and I'm probably much better at it. Now go upstairs and tidy your room.
This is for DILLON: I trained for the Birmingham branch of TIC for 3 years back when the trainers had to be at least grade 5 have at least one advanced driver qualification and have passed Cardington, one of the reasons I left in 2001 was because they were ripping people off, meaning they didn’t really care if the prospective instructor would make the grade or not. Another reason I left TIC was because they replaced one of the team with someone who hadn’t even been graded much less experienced, in other words many of the trainers with RED are failed instructors who couldn’t make the grade. Shall we just say we parted company under a cloud?
Many of my clients have been and still are PDI`s who have been let down by the college and have to resort to seeking extra training from independent trainers like me.
This forum is proving to be a threat to LVG in as much as the truth is being told in public, it must be expected that from time to time someone from LGV will submit a message of support, as a trainer of many years I can `read between the lines` and I can smell one a mile off DILLON.
Your statement “some people who think it is their god given right to be waited on hand and foot by ANY instructional establishment. It’s called "Training" of which YOU have to commit MORE than the trainers. Work, Practice, Listen, Study, Learn” is typical of that of a college trainer.
How dare you refer the gullible and very likely desperate men and women “Morons” who the hell do you think you are? It is not their fault that Red’s advertising campaign is immoral and borders on a pack of lies, many have lost their means of providing for their families and are desperate to earn a crust
You have the Gaul to address victims of LVG` s advertising as idiots, DILLON you are the true idiot here if you are so dense to think anyone with half a brain cell believes you cleared £750 per week for the first four weeks and repaid £3000 training fees, as an instructor with RED,
So unless you have something constructive to contribute to this or any other forum keep your immature thoughts to yourself. Oh by the way IF you are an instructor I feel sorry for anyone unfortunate enough to fall for your crap and end up learning to drive with you.
Well put Carl.
I would take issue with one thing though. Asking Little Boy to keep his immature thoughts to himself is counter productive. When you read a post like his it probably does more to put you off TIC/RED than a thousand posts giving the opposite point of view. The humanity isn't there they just care about taking the money.
It's "ADI's" like you who make my job difficult, not because you have an opinion, but because your opinion is unfair.
The largest majority of pupils coming to RED have bad experiences with other driving schools. THE PUPILS feel it's other instructors from other driving schools who are disshonest, cheats and only in it for the money.
It sickens me to read on silly sites like this from "supposed" highly qualified adi's putting people off training. I am not against people training? I welcome it so we can get shot of whingers and moaners who are mistreating the pupils. I have notified my local DSA senior examiner and my pupils of this site and i'm sure they will read it in depth and form an opinion themselves.
I have nothing to fear from any ADI Training Schemes in my area, I have 54 hours booked from sunday to sunday this week with TWO tests. I fully stand by my comments and hope I will be allowed my opinion as you have yours, say what you please.
Very happy Dillon
I don't believe it, he's just done it again!
Dillon, mate, read the first post you wrote and then try to tell us that it doesn't look offensive and immature.
When you've done that read up on the drivers hours regulations for truck drivers. It doesn't strictly apply to you but ask yourself how wise it is to be working a 54 hour week in a high stress occupation where public safety is at stake. I read about an instructor once who fell asleep on a lesson and the pupil drove on for another 15 miles. He was lucky!
Now ask yourself if you are going to be giving your best instruction by working so many hours. By the end of the week you will be cabbaged and will start to call your learners 'Mate' because you will start to forget their names.
With me so far? Now ask yourself if your pupils and your local Senior Examiner are reading this!
Have a nice week.
hi my name is scott. i joined Red Driving School about 3 weeks ago now because like everyone says the adverts sound so good it makes you want to do it.
anyway i'm having second thoughts now if i want to do it now, i wish i had looked more closely before i said yes.
I will have try to get out of it now i think but worried i will still have to pay £3768 pounds for the training and not to mention all the work you do at home, you get five books with about 4 sections inside with 25 questions in each section which you have to learn ready for the theory test my head is going in CIRCLES!! i think i've made a big mistake any Advice?
Hi
Sorry to hear you are struggling. I suggest you phone Red driving school support for some help, guildance and encouragement. Perhaps you could raise the points at your next classroom session for part 1. You also might like to buy the Focus Theory Test Success product which contains all the official questions for ADI Part 1 £9.99. While this software isn't specifically designed for part 1 you might find it a lot easier to use than working through the questions in book form. Regarding the contract I am afraid I cannot help you.
made redundant at xmas after 28 years in a good job. Fell for the red advert when at a very low ebb.
Like most of you fell for the sales pitch, took the initial driving test got told I could be an instructor.You all no the rest.It's now comming up to June and all the calls for instruction lessons have stopped.No way I can get my money back as I have to pay it off to Barkleys in december or pay 50%+ interest.Wish i'd never bothered.
I qualified in 2006.
I was earning £16K in my previous job, and as the main breadwinner i needed to boost my income.
READ ON.
See the adverts. Become driving instructor and earn £30K, DREAM ON.
Deduct your franchise, now you have £15K. Then deduct your petrol now you have £9.5K
What you are left with is an office junior salary, only you have worked 40-50 hours a week. Evenings and weekends. No Holiday pay, no sick pay, no duvet days, NO NOTHING. JUST HUGE DEBT,
So glad I read saw this site and read all the comments. I was recently made redundant and was seriously thinking of going to REd to become an instructor, will definately stay away now and reconsider career options, a driving intructor won't be on of them!!
I joined TIC (Red) March 2008 and paid over £3600. Was told I could qualify in 6-9 months! Joke!! If they had the instructors then maybe but there was one instructor for my area, and he covered elsewhere too. He was patronising and not very good at all. After failing my first part3 attempt I looked elsewhere and joined a more local group, taking a trainee license and additional (decent) training with them. Everyone should know its a stressful job and needs working at - don't do it unless you think otherwise! BUT BE CAREFUL WHICH TRAINER YOU USE _ SOME PROMISE AND DON'T DELIVER!!
andy.don't part with your money,enrolled with red in april.decided after watching itv programme to withdraw from the course.paid £3678 and still waiting for a full refund 2 months later.just be careful, you will get a full refund if you send written notice within 7 days of enrolment.30 days you will get 50% and over 30 days you will get sweet fa.afer numerous phone calls to instructor college i just keep getting fobbed off and lied to.so if cheque is not in post monday i will be seeking legal advice.
As a guideline I charge £35 per hour for my pay as you train course, I allocate 20 hours for part two training and 40 hours to part three, £2100.00, so I don’t see why anyone should pay more than that.
There are plenty of so called trainers out there (not all of them work for LGV) charging less but not knowing how to do the job, so choose wisely.
All my clients come by referral so I guess I’m doing the job right, after 15 years in the profession (yes I still consider it a profession) the last 10 in instructor training I have a good idea of what’s what!
I will happily give any advice that will help, info@progressive-uk.com
I agree with the whole thing. I was a Driving Instructor for 8 years. Its hard times now with companies like RED doing all this advertising offering £30k a year. They are just pumping more and more instructors into a flooded market. People nowadays have to give stupid offers now just to get people in the cars like 4 lessons for £4 each and first and last lesson free. You cannot survive on that.
Its got that stupid that I had to look elsewhere for a part time job just like many instructors I know. Alot are going into Taxi driving just to top up their income. I heard someone the other week say they need to do extra hours now just to make up for all the canx they get and in dec its even worse with every one skint for Christmas.
Anyway I looked for a second income and found a very well paid franchise that cost a pittance compaired to what it costs to be driving instructor. After 4 months I now earn more that I ever did as a Driving Instructor and the running costs are far less.
Whats more I will share it with anyone... go to www.bigpaycheque.co.uk fill in the details and you will get free info
ITS FAR BETTER AND CHEAPER THAN DRIVING AND THE HOURS ARE DEFFO TO SUIT
Scam.
There is a rumor that red cant do the 0% finance anymore because barclays won't do it for them. Does anyone know why.
If its too good to be true its usually a scam and that’s no exception, as for RED and Barclays who cares, look at it this way, think yourself lucky you didn’t take on a Career development loan, talk about a brick around your neck!!
Look for reputable independent and experienced trainer who charges as you go, I have been training PDI`s on a pay as you train basis for 7 years now and no one has ever backed out to lose thousands, all they ever stood to lose was a £250 deposit which is refundable upon completion of the course anyway.
If you are prepared to travel to Worcester area for training I will be happy to advise you. info@progressive-uk.com
Hi everyone,
Thank goodness for you!!
I am a single mum with a 2 and a half year old son. I am currently struggling on benifit and desperate to get out of the benifits trap! At the moment after paying my household bills excluding food and car cost I end up with £80 a week to manage on for myself and my son, as you can imagine it is very difficult to survive and provide well for my child on that money. I long to go back to work and be self sufficiant again. That is why when I saw the RED DRIVING SCHOOL advert on TV I was very keen to attend the introductory session. When I went to the session I was sutibly impressed! I suffer with deyslexia (as you can probably tell! haha) but apart from that I would say I am a fairly bright aware person! I was totally sucked in!
The apparent flexible hours (I have no family nearby so I have to work during nursery hours)and good income, basically ment that even including paying Red for the car each week I would still only be required to work 20-25 hours in order to cover all my costs and finally be able to have my self respect back and provide a more generous lifestyle for my son!
I can not express to you the releif I have after doing this reserch (at the advice of my father)and reading all your messages that I have not signed up to anything!!
I was all but ready to do so, the only thing that concerned me was having to pay the course fees but after a disscussion with my parents they said they would help to cover the weekly cost of £29 whilst I was training that I would then take over once I completed the training that i was assured would not take more than 6 months! Had I gone ahead with this as I planned prior to reading your posts, not only would I have ripped off my poor kind parents who are both on low incomes but I probably would have lost my home.
THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE YOU HAVE JUST HELPED ENSURE THAT MY SON KEEPS HIS WARM, SAFE HOME TO GROW UP IN! I COULD NOT BE MORE GREATFUL!!
I gues I will just have to keep looking for a part time job to help us get to a point of independence in the future. I am bitterly dissapointed about this though, I really thought I had a chance to actually get off benifits whilst doing something of worth.
These "schools" are unbelivable! Praying on the good intentions of honest, hardworking people who want to have a rewarding career whilst doing something good!
They are MERCENARYS and COWARDS!
How can they live with what they are doing to countless familys!
It is the worst aspect of human nature to put your income over the well being of another person and their children. My heart goes out to all of you that have fallen victim to these vampires!
I hope God gives them all a horrible piece of his mind in times ahead!!!!!!!!
Best of luck to all those commited to this "course" I hope you prove us all wrong and have a great experiance and life as instructors.
It is a real shame because I think I would actually ahve been a very compitent instructor and enjoyed the job enourmously.
Yours absolutly gutted but even more relieved,
Cathy S
xx
I am now very worried. I have signed up with Red as working outside of an office has a great appeal to me. I got the hard sell on the induction and interview days, which i went along with as i was sure this is what i wanted to do. The guy insisted that i had to sign all the documentation then and there (as far as making up a bank account number as i could not remember it off the top of my head) to get me signed up so i could get the free test fees.
I have now seen the horror stories listed here which all go against everything red told me. I was told there are over 2million people learning to drive each year which is clearly an over statement and that if they could not provide enough students for me to be full time in the first 2 months they would refund the training fee (this is not mentioned in writing anywhere!)
I signed these documents 9 days ago, no payment whatsoever has been made however Barclays have been in contact with me over the setup of the loan. Tutor support have contacted me and i have all the training materials for part 1. I have emailed the person who held my interview expressing my concerns and requesting that he cancel my application and the bank Loan.
As i have yet to pay a deposit what are the chances of Red aggreeing to this and letting it go???????
Get onto this site. You need to move fast.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=58486933571
Hi there, I have been training with the AA for just over a year now and unfortunately they forgot to mention quite a few things that I would need to pay for i.e £111 a go for your part 2 and £80 ago for part 1 to the DSA in addition to the whopping £3000 paid. I also had a bad instructor who after 12 hours of training decided to give him the push. He was instructing my like a learner - NOT a PDI!!! Never got my money back for those waisted hours and then to top it off, the instructor was charging me for lessons I was not even doing. Again another fight to get my hours back.
I now have failed part 2 and can go no further until I have waited the 12 months .... To start all over again. The money, the time!!!! can I do this again???? I think not.
I rang the AA for a refund for my Part 3, 40 hours of lessons is a hell of a lot of money to loose. I have been told.... sorry no refunds allowed. I may as well just put £1000's of £'s in my garden and set light to it all. All I wanted to do was better myself but hey do I feel like crap.
DO NOT DO IT - that is my advice.
In defence of the AA, if your driving for the part 2 is not upto scratch they will tell you your faults, why they are incorrect and how not to make the same mistakes again and yes at times it feels like your being spoken to like a learner! I didnt do my training with the AA nor do I work for them, but I had been a C+E driver for 13 years prior to training and at times did get the hump when I was told I was doing things wrong but you need to listen to the advice! I had 1 guy on my training who was a taxi driver and was really defensive about his driving and 1 woman who burst into tears every time the trainer even mentioned she had done anything wrong! When your training to be an ADI your whole way of driving will be unpicked and you need to practise, its the same with the part 3. Listen to whats being told to you, there is no guarenteed pass just because you paid £3000+ you need to work hard, I had people on my training sessions moaning every time they were asked to go away and do anything, "Ive got kids" "Ive got work" "I want to go out" etc etc so did I, but I wanted to pass! you can not sit back and think oh they will just give me my green badge after all Ive paid, it simply does not work like that. I dont agree with RED or some of the other schools in the advertising they do, its hard and your not going to earn £30000pa! and there is no guarenteed pass! but you do get people turning up who honestly think because they have paid they will pass, you need to understand you are not buying a business you are buying training to pass an exam, chose you trainer wisely!
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